JUST MOVE

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Winter days in Rockaway. So many cloudy days and rainy days and some snow. And cold. Just makes you want to take a comfy seat and wait – wait until the sun and the warmth comes back. Lesson learned from my Mom who just turned 90 on the 11th of February: you have to move. That means one thing to one person who is say, 25, and another thing to someone who is 90. Despite my Mom’s setbacks – after all, her body has been in its infinite working beauty for 90 years – she still says, “I have to move around.” And that she does. All around the house, several times a day.

I sometimes go to my desk for an early scheduled conference call and get caught up for most of the day – not taking my yoga practice break or brief walk or whatever. Those are the days that I feel bothered by this or that, sad, or unsettled, or down, or impatient. Negative emotions may surface – and only when I do not move. And if it is two days in a row – I find myself rehashing something from three years ago in my head and going through the motions of living in the moment. I do not want to go through the motions. I want to live each moment in its precious way.

So, more and more, I am choosing to move on a daily basis – mostly through yoga practice, which I know is a unity of body, mind and spirit (so added benefit!). And I have confirmation from my Mom. Our elders, they have a lot of wisdom; sometimes, we don’t take the time to wait until they can get it out. We’re hurried and everything is fast. . . but just as we come in to the world at a snail’s pace, so it goes at the end stage. We, in the middle stages have to have patience to listen.

Just like thinking about eating to be healthy, and not slim and beautiful like what the media feeds us, incorporating “moving” as a way of feeling good brings us to equilibrium. No competition, no measure by day by week. If competition and measuring and all of that is in your DNA, fine, but as a constant, move to live; just like eat to live. Bringing it into a lifestyle as the constant common way. Then do or not do what fits your nature to be in balance.

Do we really need an app to tell us how many steps we’re taking in one day and how many we should take? I say, “Go on how you feel.” Get into your body, which includes the mind; you’ll know when you feel good when you move and when you don’t. Some days we cannot move as much as other days – doesn’t matter how old we are. So tuning within – without all of the gadgets – in my opinion, is the best monitor. First do that, then if you need to compete with yourself every day to take that many more steps, do it. Just move.

May you be happy. May you be free. May you be grateful. May you let go of things that do not serve you. May you have inner peace.